SINGAPORE: The FDI’s new “Oral Health Atlas” was released yesterday by the FDI World Dental Federation in commemoration of the upcoming annual World Oral Health Day on 12 September, 2009. World Oral Health Day provides an opportunity for all sectors of the population to reflect upon each of their own situations when it comes to managing oral health.

Through the “Oral Health Atlas”, one can find realistic individual and population-wide solutions in a visually intuitive and easy-to-understand format. It combines short texts, colourful maps, photographs and graphics with statistics and facts. It illustrates oral health globally, highlights oral health as a neglected area of health for individuals and health systems, and suggests realistic individual and population-wide solutions. It is also a comprehensive sourcebook with information on oral health, or lack thereof, and its relation to other factors such as government, health policies, economies, wellbeing of populations and diseases, such as HIV/AIDS and diabetes.

The "Oral Health Atlas” is one in a series of atlases published by Myriad Editions, which is known for its award-winning State of the World Atlas series. Myriad Editions is committed to mapping the most pressing issues facing the world today.

The “Oral Health Atlas” will be available from the FDI Pavilion on the concourse on level 3—alongside the Poster Presentations and the Live.Learn.Laugh. stand—for a reduced congress price of 40 SGD.
After the congress, it can be purchased through Amazon UK.

The Singapore Dental Association has announced to make it available for free in public libraries around the City state.

“The FDI is pleased to be able to further support its efforts in leading the world to optimal oral health with the “Oral Health Atlas”, said Dr Burton Conrod, FDI President, during a press conference in Singapore on Wednesday. “World Oral Health Day brings attention to the problem and impact of oral diseases, while the “Oral Health Atlas” maps the current state of oral health and provides solutions for all levels of the population.” “Although the FDI has made a lot of headway in the promotion of oral health during its 108 years history, tooth decay still remains the most common childhood diseases worldwide and is the most common noncommunicable
disease on the planet.

The Atlas hopes to change the status quo by triggering tangible action based on sound and real-life facts,” he added.

(This article was published with permission of the FDI World Dental Federation.)